asgardchrysalis | ( open ) practice makes perfect

Entry tags:

( open ) practice makes perfect

Who: Jim Kirk & YOU!
What: Jim wants to learn how to wield a sword (and some other weapons)
When: Now-ish
Where: Temjask arena
Rating: PG-13 for possible mild violence, fighting and minor injuries

While not unfamiliar with using weapons, it's fair to say that Jim's well out of his depth here. Barring the use of magic, there's nothing even remotely resembling energy weapons, and even projectile weapons are nonexistent. He's checked out what's on offer but some of them he doesn't even recognize, and those that he does...

Well, he can't really remember ever holding a sword in his life, for instance. But he's definitely curious. He goes to the arena to train, keep his body in shape and possibly look for someone willing to spar with him, and after he's worked up some sweat, he heads out to where all those weapons are on display, looking over the selection with interest.

He picks up a sword at one point, a smaller and lighter-looking one, but not knowing what to do with it, he'll put it back down unless someone approaches or cuts in. He also walks around the training grounds, watching others use those same weapons, admiring from a safe distance at how skilled they are.

A more elaborate or showy move will no doubt get an impressed sound from him, and he tips his head at them. "That was brilliant. You're really good."

Not that he'd know the first thing, it just looked impressive.

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He nodded in thanks and took the invitation, heading back outside and stopping to wait for her once they reached a fairly empty and wide open area. There were a few targets set up that she could aim for with her sling, but Jim still waited for her to choose the best spot.

He didn't seem to react in any way whatsoever, but then it was only her attitude that seemed to be changing, like she was getting nervous for some reason. If anything in her appearance had changed, he hadn't seemed to notice yet.

"It's not a very common weapon. Are you very precise with it?"

She took the opportunity, while his back was turned, to let the shapeshift go, then immediately brought it back. It was less than four seconds, she was sure. And she felt safe that he hadn't seen.

The gods only knew what she would do in another ten minutes, but she'd burn that bridge when she came to it.

...was that how the expression went? She couldn't remember.

Outside, feeling a little bit better, Ariadne leaned over to pick up a smooth, flat rock along the side of the path. She ran her thumb over its surface, smiling faintly. It was absolutely perfect. Like it had been made for a sling. And perhaps it had. Who knew, with whole swaths of the village suddenly appearing by magic?

"I like to think so," she said, trotting along after him, turning to eye the targets. "I've been training since I was a little girl."

Curious, and now she was calmer again. He tried to think back to the last few moments inside, remember something that had happened, or even something he'd said or done to make her feel uneasy. He frowned slightly but let it go when he couldn't figure it out, deciding it was just best to shrug it off.

He took a few steps back to get out of her way, gesturing to the targets set up.

"Dazzle me, then."

Ariadne didn't really peacock either, but this was a close second. She stepped up to the line in front of the targets and dropped the stone into the leather cup. Gathering the thongs in her hand, she lifted her arm and started to twirl the sling. Her movements were quick and precise. No losing the stone, no wobbling.

As soon as she felt she had enough speed, she threw her arm forward. The stone sprang out of the cup and went hurtling across the space between. It hit one of the targets.

While Ariadne wasn't strong, she was precise.

The single hit knocked over the whole target.

She turned back to Jim with a shy smile. "Dazzled?"

Jim was glad he'd stepped out of her way. While it was obvious she knew what she was doing, it still seemed a little dangerous to be standing too near. He could've risked getting hit by the sling.

He let out a surprised sound when she threw the stone, clapping when it knocked the target over. Her question earned a soft laugh from him. "Thoroughly," he dipped his head. "That was very impressive."

She dipped into another curtsy. It wasn't often that she received praise for her work. Which, of course, was the way it was supposed to be. Spies went unnoticed. That was pretty much the entire job.

It was fun showing off. At least a little bit.

"There are certain parts of the body where you take aim," she said. "One shot can knock a man out. Then the killing stops that much sooner."

No harm in showing off every once in a while. She wasn't boasting pointlessly, and besides she really was good at it, so the way he saw it she had good reason to show off.

"Best way to avoid a needless fight," he agreed with a nod. "I only ever used a sling to spook horses and other farm animals when I was a kid."

Ariadne giggled. A little, bell-like laugh. "It's hard to imagine anything scaring a horse," she said. "They terrify me. Those big hooves..."

She shuddered an exaggerated shudder.

There was something strangely likable about this Jim. He had the bearing of a prince. But not the temperament, not that she could tell.

"My name is Ariadne, by the way," she told him. "But you can call me 'Airy' if you like. Almost everyone does."

"Really?" He grinned, shaking his head. "I don't think so. They're pretty friendly, you just have to know how to approach them. I was just a bit of a jerk when I was a kid. Besides, there wasn't a lot of interesting stuff happening back at the farm when I was growing up, so I had to make do with what I had."

He dipped his head, smiling at her. "Airy, then. I'm James, but everyone calls me Jim. It's nice to meet you."

She curtsied yet again, wondering if she looked like some kind of doll bobbing on the surface of a lake. It was so hard figuring out how to greet people here. At least back home, it was easy to assume that she was everyone's inferior. The people here were different. She'd already learned about democratic chairs. And how anyone was allowed to use the bracelets, no matter who they were.

But she had yet to master who was allowed to wear silk. Everything was a little scattershot there.

"James is a very pretty name," she told him. "Does it mean something?"

With Jim, informal was the way to go. Regardless, he didn't mind a bit more formality if that was what others were more used to and comfortable with.

"Thank you. I don't hear that often," he said. Mostly because it was a fairly popular name where he came from. "I'm... sure it has some kind of meaning, if you go back to its roots, but I never looked it up. Does Ariadne mean anything?"

"Oh, no," Ariadne said. Alastrians were actually appalled at the idea of naming their children after any word with meaning. As if that would somehow seal the child's destiny.

It was funny, too, because everyone said 'Airy' was a nickname that suited her well. The way she talked, the way she acted, the way she moved. It was like gravity was just barely holding her down. Any moment, she would sprout wings and fly away into the day like a sparrow.

But that came about long after her hatchling days.

She shrugged. "My father just liked the sound of it."

"Well, he wasn't wrong," he agreed. "It really is a very nice name."

It really didn't matter anyway whether a name had a meaning or not. Not to Jim, anyway.

"Wanna have another go?" He gestured to the other targets, still waiting for her to knock them over too.

Too kind to be a prince. At least, compared to the ones Ariadne had met. Of course, they'd largely been either puppet kings of the Red Dragon or else...well, Aden. But Aden was a broken shell of a man, so there was that.

She smiled slightly, offering the sling to him. "Why don't you give it a try?" she asked. "You came to learn, didn't you?"

He paused when he offered the sling, looking it over. With a chuckle, he accepted it with a thanks.

"Well... I did, yes, but I'm not even sure how to use one of these," he admitted with a soft smile. "But, uh," he started, looking around himself and picking up another rock. It wasn't as perfect as hers, but at least it was smooth. "I guess I can just... try to do what you did?"

He shrugged, pursing his lips. What was the worst thing that could happen, right?

Quickly, Ariadne reached out to grab the little cup. "Maybe you should try getting the technique first, before you add the rock," she said, nimbly palming the stone. "Just in case..." She didn't want to threaten his snarly male ego. That never ended well. But she wasn't quite sure how to diplomatically point out that he could hurt someone by accident. "...in case we run out of stones?"

That was, without a doubt, the worst lie she'd ever come up with.

She smiled meekly.

He looked a little surprised when she took the stone, eyebrows raising. Her words, along with her hesitance, drew a laugh from him, and he grinned at her. "In case I hurt someone, you mean," he pointed out, not looking the least bit upset by the implication. She really didn't need to worry about that with him, he wasn't a complete manchild. "You're right, safer that way. Alright-- let's see what I can manage, hm?"

He took a few steps aside and tried to mimic her stance, then started twirling the sling in much the same way she had. It was difficult to figure out how fast he should be going, but he did his best to come close to what she'd managed, then once he had enough speed, he threw the sling forward. It had no stone, of course, so there was no way of knowing where it would have landed, but the sling seemed to cut cleanly enough through the air. Not as precise as her throw, he was sure, but still.

He looked at her, waiting for her to correct whatever mistakes he might've made. "So how bad was that?"

She stepped back to watch him, feeling a little funny in the position of teacher. She'd never done anything like it before, but it was kind of...fun. Like playing a role, playing pretend. The sort of persona she might slip into while spying on a neighboring kingdom.

Ariadne's favorite part of the job was always coming up with a whole new person to be, no matter how temporary.

In another life, she could have been a player, perhaps.

Carefully examining Jim's form (she really liked the sound of 'James' better), she nodded slightly. "That was a pretty good start," she said. "You just need to loosen up a little bit." She shimmied her shoulders to demonstrate. "Stiffness will hold you back."

He listened and rolled his shoulders a few times, nodding. "Right. Didn't even notice my posture was that rigid."

It made sense, though, when doing something he'd never done before. The movements didn't come naturally to him, so of course he put a lot more effort to achieve the same stance and perform the same motions.

"Okay, trying again," he cleared his throat, then took up the stance again. This time he tried to force his shoulders to relax, arm moving a little more freely as he swung the sling around.

There was something of a perfectionist in him. Ariadne could appreciate that. "Better," she said, giving him an encouraging nod. "But make sure everything is loose. Not just the shoulders. The best way to think of it is throwing."

She took half a step back and mimed throwing a ball. "The movement needs to be fluid all the way. Shoulder to elbow to wrist."

Ariadne could make it look like a dance. What she lacked in raw power, she had to make up for in form, in grace, in every other advantage she could squeeze out of her slender, delicate, bird-like body. And it was bird-like, no matter what color her skin happened to be.

"Do this," she said, repeating the movement over and over again, like a ballerina doing drills.

Jim let out a soft chuckle at that, smile sharp and eyes alight as he answered with a teasing tone to it. "Trust me, everything about me is loose."

He couldn't help himself, okay. Too good an opportunity to pass up on a bit of harmless flirting. He winked at her, but then turned his attention back to the exercise. Her motions made sense, so he mirrored them, over and over, the movement of his arm more fluid the longer he practiced.

"I know what this reminds me of now," he said, grinning. "Baseball."

She certainly hoped everything about him wasn't loose. After all, his bones needed to support the structure of his muscles and tendons. And she was about to point out as much when he surprised her with that wink.

...was there something in his eye? Was he trying to send some kind of message?

What a peculiarly confusing Human.

"What's baseball?" she asked, reaching into her satchel to pull out a handkerchief, which she offered him.

Yeah, if her knowledge of metaphors was anything to go by, he had a feeling that that particular expression would fly right over her head, just like the last one. But then that was why he decided not to insist much, at least for now.

"It's a sport where I'm from," he explained, accepting the handkerchief. He figured it was to wipe the sweat off his brow, so he did just that. "Well, it used to be a sport. The popularity waned a lot, most people don't even know how it's played anymore. To be honest, I don't know any of the rules either, but I do know there was a player who'd have to throw a ball, really far and really fast, and aim it at a specific spot. Kind of like this."

Apparently his eye was fine. But no matter. The wonderful thing about handkerchiefs was that they could be used to cure all sorts of ails. One of the many clever Human inventions that Ariadne admired greatly.

Although her favorite was bread. She loved bread.

"I wonder if there's any way to find out how it's played," she said, taking the handkerchief back and tucking it into her satchel. "It might be fun to have some games. Everyone here is always so serious all of the time."

Of course, she couldn't blame them. It went with a little kidnapping. But it wasn't doing them much good now, was it?

"Well, there are a few options," he commented with a shrug. "We could ask around, maybe someone here would know the rules. Or we could look through the library."

One never knew what kinds of books they could find there. Maybe there was one about various Earth sports through the ages tucked away in some dark corner.

"If all else fails, we can always create a sport that's similar to it, even if it doesn't have the exact same rules. You'd probably do pretty well at it," he pointed out with a smile.

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